Jon Radoff (born September 17, 1972) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

. His work has focused on

online communities An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, online communities may fe ...

, Internet media and computer games. He is CEO and co-founder of Beamable, a Live Game services platform that enables the creation of online games based on

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...

. Radoff began his career when he dropped out of college to found NovaLink, an early internet service provider.Online Company SparkForge Formed, Coins 'MSOGs'
''GamaSutra'', September 22, 2006 In 1991, while at NovaLink, he created '' Legends of Future Past'', one of the first commercial MMORPGs. In 1997, he founded Eprise Corporation, a creator of Web content management software. Eprise went public on the NASDAQ stock market in 2000 and was acquired by Divine Inc. in 2001. On September 21, 2006, Radoff founded

GamerDNA gamerDNA Inc. was a social media company for video game players founded on September 21, 2006. The company was part of Live Gamer ( Emergent Payments). Members may tag themselves with information on games they have played, server names and guild ...

, a

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

company that developed social gaming communities and a videogame advertising network. GamerDNA is now part of Live Gamer. In March 2010, Radoff started a new social game company called

Disruptor Beam Beamable Inc. is a technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts. They currently provide implemention services of Games as a Service features within the Unity game engine. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2020, the company worked within game ...

that built games for Facebook. In February 2013, the company released Game of Thrones Ascent. The company ultimately sold its games to other publishers, underwent a reorganization, and relaunched as Beamable.

Writing

Radoff wrote ''Game On: Energize your Business with Social Games,'' which was published by

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

in 2011. The book discusses social games, which Radoff views as a 5,000-year-old phenomena, and how games can be applied to businesses to make them more engaging and profitable. Radoff is generally critical of the

gamification Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...

trend, and explains to businesses that they must incorporate story and immersion into their businesses if they really want to take advantage of the unique engagement offered by games.

Early career

Radoff lived in Northborough,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and was a 1991 graduate of Algonquin Regional High School. During his high school years, he develope
Space Empire Elite
a bulletin board system strategy game for Atari ST BBS systems. Much of the money Radoff earned from Space Empire Elite and his other Atari ST game, Final Frontier, later became seed capital which he used to start the company NovaLink. Later authors who maintained or contributed to SEE include Jurgen van den Handel, Steven P. Reed, Carlis Darby, David Pence, Doc Wynne, David Jones, and Dick Pederson. Also while in high school, Radoff purchased the rights to port the Atari ST BBS software StarLink, which supported FidoNet, to the Amiga; Radoff named the ported software Paragon BBS. After a brief time studying at

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 ac ...

, Radoff dropped out to form his first company.

Games

The games developed, co-developed and/or directed by Jon Radoff:

References

External links

Jon Radoff's blogInterview
with

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radoff, Jon 1972 births Living people American entertainment industry businesspeople American video game designers